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With the internationals just around the corner and Julio Ribas’ squad announced today, we take a look at Europa FC goalkeeper Dayle Coleing and if now is the correct time to cement his position as Gibraltar’s number one.

Dayle made 11 appearances last season in all competitions, conceding 5 goals in 990 minutes and keeping 6 clean-sheets. Taking into account the newly implemented 4 HGP rule in the Gibraltar National League, Europa awarded the 22-year old the number one shirt and has now become a regular figure.

If Dayle was to be given Gibraltar’s number one jersey, you expect Julio’s decision to be made a little easy with not only Dayle’s current form but Chino’s unexpected move to current champions of the domestic league Lincoln Red Imps.

Chino will definitely go down as one of the greats in Gibraltar football, making his debut in a friendly win over Latvia followed by playing a huge role in Gibraltar’s historic back-to-back wins in the UEFA Nations League against Armenia and Liechtenstein.

His move to Lincoln caught many by surprise, going from being number one at Gibraltar United to competing against Lolo Soler, arguably the best goalkeeper in Gibraltar, at Imps will be difficult but one which Chino will surely fight til the end for.

If Dayle does start against Denmark, the pressure on Matt Cafer will be extremely big. Starting against Macedonia in the away fixture in the Nations League would have been a taster of what’s to come for the 24-year old but inconsistent performances for Gib Phoenix and rumoured off-field issues has seen the Bruno Magpies keeper to possibly drop down to third choice for the Gibraltar National team.

After joining Magpies this summer, Cafer really needs to step up to the plate and not only help his side compete at the top but show Julio Ribas that he is worth keeping in the squad.

With Jamie Robba become a regular figure and keeping 9 clean-sheets last season, more than any other Gibraltarian goalkeeper, there’s only so much Julio can do before he looks at other possibilities. The current Gibraltar U21 goalkeeper Bradley Banda can’t be far off from knocking on Julio’s door and will definitely need a good U21 campaign and season with Lynx if he is to be considered.

Last but not least, Jaylan Hankins is someone who is highly regarded as a future Gibraltar international goalkeeper and if he can step up at his new club Las Palmas – he will be another option for Julio in the future.

The newly reconstructed Gibraltar National League season is upon us, kicking off today when Lynx take on Mons Calpe at 20:30, so read below our preview, where we attempt to predict the outcome of the league.

Who will win the title? Lincoln Red Imps are looking to retain their crown again, but will face stiff competition from Europa once more, while St Joseph’s, Mons Calpe and newboys Brunos Magpies have all spent heavily to reinforce their squads and try to close the gap.

Who will finish in the top eight? The new inclusion of the “Championship Group” sees the league split and the top seven seperated and battle it out between themselves for the league. The winner particpates in the UEFA Champions League, while the two runners-up move to the UEFA Europa League (depending the outcome of the Gibtelecom Rock Cup).

Your easy choices would be Lincoln Red Imps, Europa, St Joseph’s and Mons Calpe. Gibraltar Phoenix & Gibraltar United’s withdrawal leaves more empty spots to join the aforementioned four teams. We would expect Brunos Magpies to take advantage of this, while joining them would be Lynx and Lions.

The Challenge Group? Manchester 62 should be favourites and will provide tough competition with Lynx & Lions in the Championship Group. Leo announced a host of good signings earlier on in the season and led by Dani Amaya, could be favourites to win the group. College 1975 have been very quiet throughout the summer and if the signing of ex-St Joseph’s & Lions striker Jose Luis Romero is anything to go by, they could be real underdogs to even sneak into the Championship Group.

Europa Point have had a strong finish to their preseason, their only problem would be finding enough HGP’s – they will be hoping they can pick up some from Phoenix & Gib Utd. Boca have been relatively quiet this summer, apart from the announcement of their new head coach Christian Ressa, it’s been a ‘hush hush’ transfer window so it’ll be interesting to see the team they put out on Tuesday night.

Glacis will be hoping their financial troubles behind them and try to reach the heights they did back in 2016, but with players still reportedly stating they are missing wages from the second half of last season looks like it’ll be another long season for them.

Last but not least FC Olympique, a team which looks to be struggling to get a full squad together. However, with their game against Gibraltar United expected to be cancelled, it could actually be a blessing in disguise to give the club more time to bring in much needed players and compete at this level.

An early goal by Liam Walker secured Europa a 1-0 win over their rivals Lincoln and sealed his side the Pepe Reyes Memorial Cup for a second consecutive season.

Lincoln with Kike, Lee Casciaro and George Cabrera all
injured which left Victor Afonso starting their newly signed striker Idelino
Gomes while Chino was given a surprise debut ahead of first choice keeper Lolo
Soler.

We only had to wait four minutes for the first goal as
Juampe dribbled past Joseph Chipolina and played a low ball towards Liam Walker,
whose shot from 25-yards left Chino rooted to the spot, giving the holders
Europa a 1-0 lead.

Lincoln came battling back and debutant Blas Alvarez’s
deflected shot nearly found its way into the bottom corner but went out for a
corner which Dayle Coleing caught superbly. Juampe was having fun on the right hand
side, continuously finding himself in a good attacking position but his final
ball was swept up by the Lincoln defence.

Anthony Hernandez played a good through ball to Gato whose
shot from a tight angle went wide. Shortly after Gato found himself behind
Jayce Olivero again and fired a low shot towards goal which Coleing got a
strong hand to it to keep it out.

The game evened out and the first half ended with Europa
leading 1-0 courtesy of Liam Walker.

The second half got underway with Lincoln on the front-foot
and a mix-up at the back nearly led to an equaliser but Gomes was unable to capitalise
and Jayce Olivero cleared the danger at the backpost.

Juampe’s continued to be cause the Lincoln defence problems,
his pace proved too much for Roy Chipolina and his pass found Adrian Gallardo
whose first time shot went just over the crossbar. Europa nearly doubled their
lead in the 53rd minute as Velasco’s shot took a deflection off Roy
Chipolina and rolled inches wide of the post.

Dayle Coleing was slow to react to Sergio Molina’s shot from
range which hit the post, Lincoln appealed to what looked like to be a certain
corner but the referee awarded a goal-kick. Around 15 minutes to go and
trailing 1-0, Lincoln brought on Jamie Coombes to replace Sergio Molina while
Europa swapped out their strikers with Manu Dimas coming on for Adrian Gallardo.

A few minutes later, Ethan Britto replaced Roy Chipolina with Joseph Chipolina receiving the captain’s armband and moving into the centre of defence.

Europa kept their nerve for the remainder of the game and walked away with the first piece of silverware of the season, beating Lincoln 1-0.

Liam Walker scored one and assisted two as Europa comfortably beat UE Sant Julia 4-0 this evening, 6-3 on aggregate, to progress into the UEFA Europa League first qualifying round.

The Greens made two changes to the side which lost the first leg 3-2 with Dayle Coleing & Tjay De Barr replacing Javi Munoz & Fernando Velasco – the hosts were also still without the suspended Alex Quillo.

Time-wasting from the Sant Julia goalkeeper in the opening five minutes set off a tone for the first half and after Europa’s wingers Juampe & De Barr were causing trouble, the visitors shifted to a five at the back formation.

Five minutes before half-time and Europa got their breakthrough as Liam Walker played in Adrian Gallardo who slotted the ball past the Sant Julia goalkeeper – two goals in two games for the Spanish striker.

Two minutes into the second half and Europa doubled their lead, Liam Walker once again the provider as his through ball found Tjay De Barr and he fired a low shot into the bottom corner.

Tjay should have got his brace shortly after but his close range shot went past the post after being set-up nicely by Juampe. Walker put the game to bed in the 78th minute after controlling the ball excellently in the box and smashed a shot past Kasparian.

Five minutes later and Sant Julia went down to 10 men as Jonny was sent off for a second bookable offence. Making his Europa League debut, Dayle Coleing made his first save in the 88th minute from a Sant Julia free-kick.

Europa made it 4-0 in added time as Juampe rounded the goalkeeper, dribbled past a defender and scored from close. An easy win in the end for the hosts, which proved to have broken a record in Gibraltar for the most combined goals scored by local clubs in one season in UEFA club competitions – combing Saints’ three goals with Europa’s six.

Next up for Europa is a first qualifying round tie against Legia Warsaw.

A goal from Juanfri secured a 1-1 draw for St Joseph’s away in Kosovo while Lincoln & Europa suffered defeats but the use of 3 Gibraltarians across 33 players left a sour taste in Gibraltar.

Two minutes into their opening UEFA Champions League preliminary and the hosts Feronikeli made it 1-0 through Mendurim Hoti. The rest of the game was quite even, very few chances were created and the Kosovan Champions held on to progress – they will play TNS in 1QR after beating Santa Coloma on Friday.

The Imps started with Roy Chipolina & Joseph Chipolina with Anthony Hernandez coming on in the 74th minute. Lee Casciaro missed out after recovering from injury while new signing Ethan Britto didn’t make the squad.

Talk before the game had this game as a Europa win all over it and it should have been but a poor defensively display could cost them dearly. Adrian Gallardo fired Europa into a 1-0 lead in the 4th minute but the hosts would equalise on the stroke of half-time.

One minute into the second half and Europa made it 2-1, Juampe’s cross found Fernando Velasco and his effort was turned into his own net by Senah Mango.

On the 64th minute, the hosts equalised against through Joel Mendez getting his second of the evening. Europa couldn’t make use of the extra-man advantage and Pedro Munoz would make it 3-2 to Sant Julia in the 93rd minute.

Liam Walker was the only Gibraltarian starting for Europa last Thursday. Dayle Coleing & Tjay De Barr picked up apparent knocks while Ethan Jolley, Mikey Yome, Jason Pusey & Jayce Olivero were all named on the bench.

After beating Europa last season, next up for Prishtina would be St Joseph’s. The hosts pretty much dominated from start to finish, having a total of 17 goal attempts with 5 on target.

Francisco Mateo Vera started in goal for Saints and pulled off an incredible piece of goalkeeping to prevent Shillova scoring a tap-in after Kreshnik Uka’s shot hit the crossbar and bounced on the line. Shortly after Prishtina made it 1-0 as captain Armend Daliku scored from the penalty spot after Shillova was brought down by Ezequiel Rojas.

Doing what Lincoln & Europa were not able to do, St Joseph’s scored in Kosovo. Just three minutes after conceding, a cross by Cristian Pecci was met by the head of Juanfri and he guided the ball into the bottom left corner.

Saints were able to hold on and take a 1-1 draw into next Tuesday’s return leg. The impressive result would not be the talking point, with many people voicing their frustrations over the use of 0 Gibraltarian’s in their starting lineup – a repeat of last season’s second leg tie against B36 Torsavn.

Second half goals from Manuel Arana, Urko Arroyo and a Liam Walker penalty helped Europa beat Gibraltar United 3-0 and retain the Gibtelecom Rock Cup for a third consecutive year.

In the pre-Rock Cup press conference, Europa head coach Rafa Escobar didn’t give any hints as to his who his three HGP’s following the suspension of Tjay De Barr. As expected, it would be Dayle Coleing named alongside Liam Walker & Ethan Jolley.

Alberto Zapata had a glorious chance to score in the first fifteen minutes but volleyed his close range shot over the bar. Ten minutes later, Europa would reply as Manuel Arana shot just wide from inside the box.

There wasn’t much between the teams for the rest of the half apart from Liam Walker’s free-kick which was well saved by Kyle Goldwin. Herbert Warwick blew for half-time with the score locked at 0-0.

Goldwin was called into action, making an excellent save to keep out a shot from Manuel Dimas. After starting the half strong, Europa got their goal through Manuel Arana as he beat Erin Barnett to the ball, run on goal and fired past Goldwin.

Less than ten minutes later and Europa doubled their lead, Arana went from scorer to provider as he set up Urko Arroyo to slot the ball in from close.

Things went from bad to worse for Gibraltar United as Europa made it 3-0 minutes later as Liam Walker scored from the penalty spot. The holder nearly got a fourth but Goldwin did well to save a shot from Dimas.

Gibraltar United bench were furious with the decision not to send off Manuel Arana after his altercation with Carlos Carrasco. Francis Huart walked back to the bench then out of nowhere whipped out a Lincoln shirt and start shouting towards the Europa fans. This foolish act would see the Gibraltar United delegate sent to stands.

We caught up with Europa winger Mikey Yome to get his thoughts on the upcoming Gibtelecom Rock Cup final and more.

After last week’s 13-1 thrashing of FC Boca Juniors, we asked how how Europa are feeling going into this Sunday’s Gibtelecom Rock Cup final – “Team’s in good spirits, the rock cup final is probably the best game of the season in Gibraltar with regards to the way in which it’s organised and we are looking forward to defending the title again. We have a really good group of guys and personally this is probably the best group I’ve been with in terms of friendship as well as on the pitch chemistry.”

After missing out on winning the league to rivals Lincoln, we asked if there’s any added pressure on Europa to retain the Rock Cup – “We always take every game one by one, and the cup final was not a thought up until after the boca game. Missing out on the league was quite a big blow but we have moved on from it, we have a cup final as well as the Europa League to look forward to, and we need to feel privileged about our situation. Everyone feels pressure in every game but we are a team that knows how to play under pressure. We have very experienced players who have played to the highest levels and this further reinforces the teams spirit.”

It was Europa’s draw to Gibraltar United in late April which would pave the way for Lincoln to retain the league, we asked Yome if Europa will be looking for revenge on Sunday – “As I said before we have moved on from the past. Our only focus is lifting the cup. Revenge is nothing compared to lifting a title.”

Lastly, Yome reflected on his season – “I thought I started the season off considerably well, but I know I have much more to offer. All I know is that at the moment what’s important is the team and how we perform as a whole on Sunday.”

We caught up with Europa midfielder Mustapha Yahaya to get his reaction to yesterday’s defeat to Lincoln, the Gibtelecom Rock Cup and more.

Yahaya reflected on Europa’s 2-0 defeat to Lincoln yesterday, “Yesterday was much of a disappointment for us but not just for losing the league or the game to Lincoln but because we didn’t play to our standard. We came on the field for a win but things didn’t go as we planned and the day became one of those bad days in football.”

Defeat to Lincoln meant the Imps would clinch the Premier Division shield, Yahaya gave his view on how Europa’s season has gone – “Losing to Lincoln yesterday makes them champions but our season so far , personally, has not been a failure considering all the obstacles. Not many can face what we have been through and keep to the standard we have but it’s not to deny the fact that we wanted to win the league and we were up there for it until the very end. For sure we are not satisfied as a team and family because we always want more and demand more but we are proud. Our next focus is to have Rock up and get results in Europe.”

After their final game against Boca next week, all eyes turn to the Gibtelecom Rock Cup final against Gibraltar United – we asked about the importance of the Cup after missing out on the league, “Every title is important regardless of losing or winning the league. Europa FC is going to do everything to win the Rock Cup and make it a second title this season.”

Gibraltar football’s top two collide on Saturday night, with Lincoln hoping to retain the Premier Division shield – but rivals Europa stand in their way in what would most likely be a title decider.

Reigning champions Lincoln have a two point lead in the table heading into Saturday’s game and have scored eleven more goals than their opponents Europa.

Even though both teams will be desperate for a win, drawing could be a risk that Lincoln may not want to take. Depending on results elsewhere, Mons Calpe, who face Lincoln on the final day, could still be in with a chance of qualifying for the Europa League, while Europa take on FC Boca Juniors.

Since taking over in mid-December, Victor Afonso has recorded eight straight wins, since a draw against Europa on the 16th February, and will be hoping to continue the run this Saturday.

Joseph Chipolina is one player which Victor will be hoping is fully fit. Lincoln’s top goalscorer this season hasn’t featured since scoring in their 3-0 win over Gibraltar Phoenix on the 8th March, while Lolo Soler will be expected to return between the sticks with Jaylan Hankins moving to the bench despite a very successful couple of months.

Their opponents Europa have also been on an excellent run of form; you need to date back to the 25th of November 2018 for their last defeat and it was against none other than Lincoln.

After losing five of arguably their best players and their manager in the betting scandal, Europa have still managed to turn their season into a positive one with a title decider on Saturday and facing Gibraltar United in the Gibtelecom Rock Cup final.

They needed players to step up and it would be their locals players which would steer the ship to Christmas. The club would go on to sign five players in January and announce a new coach in Rafael Escobar in February.

Escobar waltzed into Gibraltar football with a debut win over Lincoln in the Rock Cup and since then has gone undefeated with ten wins and two draws. Javi Munoz will be expected to return as Europa’s number one with Coleing making his way to the bench, who just like Hankins, has had a very successful couple of months.

We, just like everyone else, hope that Saturday’s game can live up the hype and provide the fans with a great spectacle. Entrance to the match is free, and if you can’t make it to the Victoria Stadium, you can follow it live on our Twitter and Facebook accounts.